Vote Notes on Legislation

Alejandro Mayorkas is the worst cabinet secretary in American history, guilty of malfeasance, neglect of duty and maladministration. He has implemented Biden’s open border policy that has produced the worst mass illegal migration ever recorded. Elections have consequences, and this is one of them. The grounds for impeachment are explicitly laid out in the Constitution: “Treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Treason and bribery are well defined. But from the beginning, politicians have tried to stretch the meaning of “high crimes and misdemeanors” to apply to political disagreements, and that is antithetical to the fundamental architecture of the Constitution.

This motion defeated the official censure of Rashida Tlaib for her antisemitic rhetoric. I voted yes because we must never punish speech, no matter how vile it may be. I denounce her defense of Hamas in the strongest possible terms. I can do so because of the freedom of speech our Constitution protects. Speech can be ugly, disgusting, hateful, prejudiced and alarming. But it can never be dangerous to a free society as long as men and women of good will have the freedom of speech to dispute it, challenge it and reject it. That freedom is only safe for the rest of us if it is safe for the worst of us. Indeed, it is this freedom that protects US from THEM. Accordingly, I voted to table the motion.

Proving that you can’t judge a bill by its title, the “Protect Our Children Act of 2022 spends $60 million over the next two years as grants to local and state law enforcement to “implement effective responses to internet-facilitated child sexual exploitation and internet crimes against children.”  Although the cause is vitally important, as with most grant programs, there is no independent audit of its effectiveness.  My observation is that much grant money disappears into the salaries of various groups and agencies who will write glowing reports of their work and apply for more grants next year. Grants are taken from ALL taxpayers and given only to agencies in selected states.  If this is a federal responsibility, it should be addressed federally, with all jurisdictions benefiting from the funds.   Grants have become the third biggest expenditure of the federal government, behind only Social Security and national defense.  We give away a half-trillion dollars a year in this manner – roughly $4,000 from an average family’s taxes -- with little oversight, little accountability, little follow-up and little results.   Meanwhile, the problems they are supposed to solve seem to get worse.

This bill reauthorizes and increases funding for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program through FY 2027.  Yes, home visits by social workers to at-risk families is a good thing to do, and I supported reauthorization in 2017.  But given the dire financial condition of the federal government – and the absence of a federal nexus that justifies a grant program of this nature – I believe this is a decision that should be left to state and local governments to implement at their discretion and with their resources, as many did before the federal program began.  Worse, according to the bill’s Committee Report,  “we lack data about the impact of interventions funded by the federal program.”  Translation: nobody knows if it even works.

The looming railroad strike would cause significant short-term damage to the economy: supply chain disruptions, price spikes, shortages, all in time for the Christmas holidays.  But this measure would cause significant long-tern damage, by asserting government fiat into what should rightfully be terms freely negotiated between employers and employees.  The terms of this agreement are certain to produce significant and permanent price increases on consumers by dramatically increasing the cost of shipping everything that travels by rail.  Above all, this crisis argues for removing the compulsive nature of forced unionism and to restore the fundamental right of individuals to make their own decisions and negotiate terms that to them are most advantageous to their needs.  Twenty-six states have right to work laws and they tend to be those with the most prosperous economies and standards of living.  It’s time to implement the same reforms nationally.

I am highly skeptical of pilot programs that are automatically extended without proving their worth, and taxpayer grants to businesses where private investors are unwilling to risk their own capital.  Finally, the increasing financial entanglement between businesses and government is unhealthy in a free society and is a breeding ground for corruption, political favoritism and misallocation of resources.  For all these reasons, I am a no vote.

Many years ago, the last silicon chip manufacturer closed its operations in Silicon Valley because of the high tax, energy and regulatory costs of doing business in the United States.  Now we’ve suddenly decided we want them back.  Instead of addressing the problem by reducing the obstacles to domestic manufacturing, Congress will shell out $280 billion (about $2,240 per family) to bail out impoverished big tech moguls by substituting your dollars for theirs.  There’s a prevailing wage requirement to reward the unions, and just so the green left isn’t left out, there’s plenty of your money left over to finance green energy scams as well.  Starving big tech executives thank you for your family’s generous contribution to their welfare.  Good luck affording your next laptop.

Under the pretense of combating human smuggling, this bill hands out $1.1 billion to bloated foreign aid programs, resume workshops for noncitizens and other unaccountable grants to community groups and local governments.  It utterly ignores the human trafficking crisis unfolding on the southern border as crime cartels smuggle record numbers of unaccompanied minors into the country, which the Biden administration then traffics to a community near you with the help of your tax dollars.